Many computer systems include objects and systems that manage these objects. As used herein, a system that manages an object is referred to herein as a “management system.” As used herein, an “object” is a software abstraction representing a thing (i.e., item). An object may be any type of thing managed by a computer, including but not limited to a: physical item, virtual item, communication item, computation item, physical or logical device, machine, printer, weapon, equipment, data storage item, another object, a group of objects, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A “data storage item” or “data storage object” may be any type of physical or logical item related to data storage, including, but not limited to, data, meta data, physical storage device, logical storage device (e.g., a thin device), storage array, logical storage unit, logical volume, solid state (e.g., flash) drive, disk drive, disk segment, disk track, cache, storage group, consistency group, file, block, superblock, extent, sub-extent, service provider, model, port, front-end adapter, back-end (e.g., disk) adapter, other storage object, a group of any of the foregoing, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.
In some cases, multiple management systems manage the same object, and such management systems may be logically and/or physically coupled to each other such that the multiple management systems manage the object in a coordinated manner. If a communication failure occurs between one or more of the multiple management systems, problems may arise in the management systems managing the object in a coordinated manner.